Motinystė lietuvių kalbos pasaulėvaizdyje (remiantis žodžio mama asociacijomis ir žodžių motiniškas, -a, motiniškai junginiais)

Acta Linguistica Lituanica 2025, vol. 92, pp. 1–18 Contents link / Turinio nuoroda ISSN 2669-218X (online / elektroninis) MOTHERHOOD IN THE LITHUANIAN LANGUAGE WORLDVIEW (BASED ON THE ASSOCIATIONS OF THE WORD MAMA AND COMPOUNDS WITH THE WORDS MOTHERLY, MOTHERLY) Motherhood in the Worldview of the Lithuanian Language (Based on the Associations of the Word mama (En. Mom) and the Compounds of the Words motiniškas, -a (En. Motherly), motiniškai (En. in a Motherly Way) SILVIJA PAPAURĖLYTĖ-KLOVIENĖ Institute of the Lithuanian Language E-mail: [email protected] ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2538-9502 Research areas: ethnolinguistics, contrastive linguistics, cognitive linguistics, linguistic culturology. https://doi.org/10.35321/all92-06 ANNOTATION The article describes part of the content of the concept MOTHER, which belongs to the Lithuanian language worldview. Using the results of the analysis of the association field of the word mama, all forms of the adjectives motherly, motherly, and compounds with the adverb in a motherly way, the aim is to summarise how a mother is perceived in the Lithuanian language worldview and what behavioural patterns are characteristic of her. The article’s claims are based on an analysis of the results of a free association experiment and examples from the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian Language compiled at the Centre for Computational Linguistics of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. The research presented in the article provides information about the content of the MOTHER concept and supplements what is already known about the peculiarities of world categorisation in the Lithuanian language worldview. KEYWORDS: language worldview, concept, mother (mama), motherly, in a motherly way. ABSTRACT The article describes part of the content of the concept MOTINA (En. MOTHER), which belongs to the Lithuanian worldview. Using the results of the analysis of the association field of the word mama (En. mom), all forms of the adjectives motiniškas, -a (En. motherly) and the compounds of the adverb motiniškai (En. in a motherly way), the paper aims to summarise the perception of what a mother is in the Lithuanian language worldview, and the behavioural patterns that are typical of her. The paper is based on the analysis of the results Copyright © 2025 Silvija Papaurėlytė-Klovienė. Published by the Institute of the Lithuanian Language. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. // Išleido Lietuvių kalbos institutas. Šis straipsnis yra atviros prieigos, platinamas pagal „Creative Commons“ priskyrimo licencijos sąlygas, leidžiančias neribotai naudoti, platinti ir atkurti turinį bet kokioje laikmenoje, nurodant autorių ir šaltinį. Received: / Gauta: 2025-04-18. Accepted: / Priimta: 2025-05-13. of the free association experiment and the analysis of the examples from the Current Lithuanian Language textbook compiled at the Centre for Computational Linguistics of Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas. The research presented in the paper provides information about the content of the MOTINA (En. MOTHER) concept and adds to what is already known about the peculiarities of world categorisation in the worldview of Lithuanians. KEYWORDS: language world view, concept, mother (mom), motherly, in a motherly way. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Studies of the language worldview remain relevant because the language on whose examples of usage they are based changes, and the perception of the world characteristic of language users changes along with it. These processes influence one another; therefore, a complete description of the worldview of a particular language cannot and never will be the goal of linguists’ work—new texts are constantly emerging that both reflect changes in the perception of the world and may themselves influence them. In order to describe a fragment of the image of the world recorded in language, it is appropriate to define the scope of the linguistic material being analysed and the period with which its origin is associated, and on this basis to specify the boundaries of the object being described. Studies based on material from the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian Language, using examples close to everyday language taken from electronic discourse, which is often as close as possible to spoken language¹, actualise a fragment of the language worldview—information about an object, phenomenon, or process present in the user’s consciousness; in other words, they provide information about the corresponding concept and its content in the language worldview. The aim of the research presented in the article is to describe part of the content of the MOTHER concept associated with the Lithuanian language worldview by using material of different types. To achieve this aim, the following tasks were set: 1) to collect different types of linguistic material reflecting the diversity of the concept’s content—the association field of the word mama and all forms of the adjective motherly, motherly and examples of the use of the adverb in a motherly way found in the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian Language; 2) to present partial conclusions using analytical methods appropriate to the linguistic material; 3) to generalise the partial conclusions and thus partially describe the content of the MOTHER concept. The study employed descriptive, interpretive, conceptual analysis, and free association experiment methods. STATE OF RESEARCH Mother, mama are among the words denoting kinship relations in Lithuanian. In Lithuanian linguistics, kinship terms have been analysed from various perspectives. ¹ According to Asta Ryklienė, electronic discourse is brought closer to spoken language by the fact that the text is usually published unedited, and by the spontaneity, ellipsis, and contextuality characteristic of the language. In electronic discourse, words and phrases are abbreviated, informal lexis is abundant, and first- and second-person pronouns predominate. The author substantiates her conclusion that the language used when communicating online differs considerably from written language and has features that bring it closer to the spoken variety (see Ryklienė 2000: 99–107 for more detail). 2 Rūta Buivydienė’s dissertation provides a detailed picture of Lithuanian kinship terms and discusses their usage, origin, and the main regularities in the development of the kinship-term system (Buivydienė 1992). Some works discuss kinship terms associated with one of the sexes (Buivydienė 2000; Kačiuškienė ir kt. 2008: 28–40; Kačiuškienė, Vikrauskaitė 2010: 46–54). Antanas Sabaliauskas writes in The Lexicon of the Lithuanian Language that the word mother belongs to the ancient Indo-European lexicon. It is a word common to all Indo-European languages and associated with the child-language word *ma (Sabaliauskas 1990: 20–21). Dainius Razauskas (2002) examines the etymology of the word moja (that is, an unadorned designation for a mother). Juozas Jurkėnas (2011) also writes about the kinship terms tata, mama and relates them to child language. Interesting insights can be found in interdisciplinary works. Gabija Bankauskaitė-Sereikienė analyses articles and advertisements for women printed in the periodicals Naujoji Romuva, Moteris, Naujas žodis in 1920–1940. The author concludes that the traditional part of society at that time wanted a woman to be modest, virtuous, devout, healthy, naturally beautiful, to nurture traditions and, of course, to be a mother. This image was presented in the newspaper Moteris published by the Lithuanian Catholic Women’s Society (Bankauskaitė-Sereikienė 2012: 71–85). Almost two decades ago, Gintarė Kavaliūnaitė-Amelyushkina conducted a study aimed at examining the image of motherhood in the Lithuanian media. Based on material from the magazines Tavo vaikas, Mamos žurnalas ir Mažylis, the researcher states that the traditional patriarchal image predominated in the media of that time. Its essence was that women were encouraged to sacrifice their careers and professional ambitions for the family and to focus exclusively on family concerns. Because of the maternal instinct, women are better able than men to care for children, and therefore every woman should want motherhood. The author of the study notes that in the virtual discourse of that time, that is, on the internet, the image of the mother was already less one-sided; other views began to emerge—a woman who doubted her decisions and felt caught between the traditional role and reality was discussed (Kavaliūnaitė-Amelyushkina 2006: 42–52). Similar questions are discussed in works focused on motherhood in Lithuanian literature. Karolina Slotvinska’s analysis is based on the works of Vanda Juknaitė. The researcher concludes that the writer does not present an idealised image, because in Juknaitė’s work the mother is characterised through contrasts. She is strong and weak, brave and timid at the same time. Mothers’ bonds with their children are exceptionally strong (Slotvinska 2021: 308–317). Žydronė Kolevinskienė states that the most widespread image in Lithuanian prose is that of a mother who sacrifices herself for her children and husband and is gentle and good. Readers are confronted with questions about whether motherhood is a value and whether a woman is naturally supposed to possess a maternal feeling (Kolevinskienė 2008: 96–104). Karolina Slotvinska’s and Kristina Rutkovska’s article on the Lithuanian image of MOTHER is based on student questionnaire data and aimed to reveal stereotypical 3 maternal traits: to define what the word mother means, what she is associated with, what traits are characteristic of her, and what role a mother plays in a child’s life (Slotvinska, Rutkovska 2020). A detailed analysis of the concept MOTHER is presented in the monograph Earth. Mother. Bread by Irena Smetonienė, Marius Smetonas, and Kristina Rutkovska (Smetonienė ir kt. 2021), based on the methodology of the Lublin ethnolinguistic school founded by Jerzy Bartmiński and his students. The author of the section devoted to the image of the mother is Kristina Rutkovska. Drawing on The Dictionary of the Lithuanian Language, dialect dictionaries, dictionaries of contemporary language, folklore sources, examples from religious, literary, and journalistic discourse, and questionnaire material, the researcher describes the basic perception of the mother. It is summarised that the Lithuanian language worldview generally records the mother as good, sincere, and caring; she loves and protects her own children (Smetonienė ir kt. 2021: 290). In Simona Steponavičienė’s Dictionary of Verbal Associations in the Lithuanian Language (Steponavičienė 1986), the association fields of the words mama and mother are not provided; therefore, the association field of the word mama used in the research presented in this article is the first attempt to generalise the verbal associations evoked by this word. THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE STUDY If a verbal association experiment is conducted correctly—that is, if all respondents who receive a list of stimuli and instructions to write, without thinking for long, the first word or sentence that comes to mind next to each word do precisely that—the results of the experiment reveal information associated in the language worldview with an object of extralinguistic reality; in other words, they reveal part of the concept’s content that actually exists in people’s consciousness. Moreover, verbal associations can help define a model for describing a concept. Several types of concepts are mentioned in linguistics. The essence of each type is based on a different mode of information representation, which depends on the specificity of the object of extralinguistic reality: 1) mental images (these are concrete objects perceived visually, for example, cloud); 2) schemas (they resemble an image, contain fewer details, and emphasise spatial character, for example, road); 3) hypernyms (they are not figurative and can be described by indicating logical relations, for example, mammals); 4) typical schemas (individual details are linked into a whole resembling a film frame, into which everything typical and important under particular circumstances falls, for example, hair salon); 5) scenarios (they are plot-like, resembling the heading of a series of stereotypical actions, for example, jealousy) (Babuškin 1996: 19–95). When a concept has no clear connection with any one of these types, it is considered kaleidoscopic. It is possible to specify which of the aforementioned types a concept may be associated with by analysing as many examples of different types as possible. The adjectives motherly, -a and the adverb in a motherly way were selected for analysing the concept in question in accordance with an approach to the categorisation of the world and its reflection in language close to cognitive linguistics, and with the aim of revealing how a typical mother 4 and the behaviour characteristic of her are perceived in the Lithuanian language worldview—in other words, what information can be associated with the content of the MOTHER concept. According to The Grammar of Contemporary Lithuanian Language, the suffix -iškas indicates similarity to the thing expressed by the base word (DLKG 1994: 207). The grammar states that this similarity may be either internal or external. “Noun-based adjectives with the suffix -iškas often have a figurative meaning, that is, they denote not ‘like what’ but ‘like whose’, e.g.: angelic voice, <...> Highland Lithuanian pronunciation, <...> brotherly welcome, <...> motherly care” (ibid.). Extending this idea, it may be added that when the base words of noun-based adjectives with the suffix -iškas are names of persons, the distinction between “like what” and “like whose” is slight. Moreover, The Grammar of Contemporary Lithuanian Language itself states that “another meaning of these adjectives is close to the figurative meaning of similarity—‘characteristic, usual, attributed to the thing expressed by the base word, associated with that thing’. The example motherly care mentioned in the grammar can be understood by focusing on two aspects: it is care characteristic of mothers; care that manifests itself in the way mothers’ care manifests itself. The same view is held in Practical Grammar of Standard Lithuanian (PBLKG 2024: 431–432). Word combinations with motherly, -a and in a motherly way are connected with one category whose centre is the designation mother; this relation is also the feature linking all the different members of the category. In addition to other information, the category of motherliness may include everything that in the language worldview can be described by the words motherly, -a, in a motherly way—in other words, anything to which language users attribute an internal or external similarity to an analogous situation involving a mother, or where they see that an object, process, property, etc. is characteristic of, usual for, attributed to, or associated with a mother. No category is equivalent to a concept², but it can be used as a source of information for describing a concept. From this perspective, it follows that various objects and phenomena of extralinguistic reality associated with the category of motherliness, by reversing the direction of observation of examples of language use, reveal what a mother is (or what she is expected to be), and what actions and how they are performed are characteristic of her. To obtain more precise analytical results, different research material was selected, namely, the association field of the word mama, all forms of the adjective motherly, -a, and examples of the use of the adverb in a motherly way. In other words, the analysis of the results of the free association experiment is supplemented by conceptual analysis. It is held that combining different methods and different linguistic material describing the same object of extralinguistic reality makes it possible to reveal the concept’s content more fully. The words mother, mama, motherly, -a, and in a motherly way ² An equals sign cannot be placed between a category and a concept, but a correlation exists: a particular category and concept are associated with the same fragment of reality. A concept is information about an object of reality present in the consciousness of language users, whereas a category is the result of organising the world in the consciousness of language users. A category encompasses a broader field of extralinguistic reality, while the content of a concept is more oriented towards language and linguistic expression; cf. one can speak of motherly care, gaze, touch, or protection (that is, examples of actualisations of the category of motherliness), but when speaking about what language users call a mother, what a mother is like, and what relationship they have with her (The young man called the woman who raised him mother. The mother waits patiently. Irreplaceable like a mother’s love.), we focus on the content of the MOTHER concept. 5 verbalise the same concept, but the contexts in which all the words are used and the semantic charge determined by those contexts are certainly not identical. Writing about the emotional, aesthetic, ethical, and other evaluation of linguistic expression, Kazimieras Župerka describes the word mother as singled out in a special way and elevated. Such and similar words (on the basis of the collected material, Župerka mentions the words mother, Lithuania, homeland, Easter) are also called elevated, noble, extraordinarily beautiful, and meaningful (Župerka 2012: 196). Thus, similar content and sphere of use are also associated with the word in a motherly way. It should be noted that, according to the results of K. Rutkovska’s research, language users assign the word mother an entirely different emotional charge from that described by Župerka: “First of all, I would distinguish ‘mama’ from ‘mother’. ‘Mother’ is associated for me with strictness and cold relations between a mother and her children. For some reason, I imagine her old, wearing a headscarf, wrinkled, like the one sometimes depicted in Lithuanian folk tales. ‘Mama’, by contrast, is young and warm, does not know ‘fear’, and has a closer relationship with her children. <...> ‘Mother’ is simply associated with a person who once gave birth to a child. I never call my own mother ‘mother’. ‘Mama’ is a warmer and dearer word. ‘Mother’ seems to me a harsh and unpleasant word” (Smetonienė ir kt. 2021:146). The relationship between the words mother and mama can be described as a relationship between narrower and broader content: mother is understood more broadly and abstractly, that is, it is a designation of a kinship relation, whereas mama is oriented towards a specific, real person present beside the language user; therefore, it can be said to be more suitable for expressing a personal relationship. Both words designate the same object of extralinguistic reality—a woman in relation to her own child—and are therefore associated with the same concept. Because of the word mother’s association with a higher stylistic register, it was selected to name the concept. For the research presented in the article, various linguistic material was used to compare and describe the extent to which the conclusions formulated after analysing material of different types—partly associated with different discourses and possibly characterised by different emotional charges, but revealing the content of the same concept—correlate with one another. SELECTION OF RESEARCH MATERIAL AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Almost 600 students of various study programmes (the humanities, engineering, and groups of social and educational sciences) from Šiauliai and Vilnius, for whom Lithuanian is their mother tongue, participated in the verbal association experiment whose results were used in the research presented in the article. Since an association experiment is considered reliable when at least 30 respondents have participated, the results of the free association experiment on which part of the present research is based can be considered reliable. The experiment participants were 17–35 years old. The students were given a list of 100 stimuli, including, among others, the word mama, and were asked to write, without thinking for long, the first word, word combination, or sentence that came to mind at that moment next to each word. It was emphasised that all answers were good and would be used only for scholarly linguistic work. The experiment 6 was conducted in 2010–2020. Thus, the people who participated in the experiment are now a working-age generation creating the country’s life, making decisions, and, presumably, raising their own children. Among the experimental results are many cases in which several dozen responses are identical. Numerous identical reactions to stimuli reflect the perception of the world characteristic of members of our culture. When analysing the content of the association field of any word, it should first be assumed that some associations are determined both by the language system and by relations among objects or phenomena of reality, while others are based more strongly on relations in extralinguistic reality. Another type of association that is highly valuable for describing the specificity of the image of the world characteristic of a particular language recorded in language is precedent texts. It is neither expedient nor logical to strictly distinguish some associations as resulting solely from the systematicity of language and others as resulting solely from the actualisation of relations among objects and phenomena of reality, because language is, after all, a reflection of reality; therefore, the systematicity of language is not a result in itself but partly correlates with extralinguistic reality itself³ Associations belonging to the first group may be paradigmatic, determined by the stimulus word’s place in the language system, and syntagmatic, that is, motivated by the stimulus’s ability to form word combinations and sentences of the corresponding content⁴ Another part of the research material consists of examples of actualisations of the category of motherliness—combinations containing all forms of the adjective motherly, –a and the adverb in a motherly way, collected from the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian Language. In total, 550 examples were used; 87 examples were selected to illustrate the claims of the article. Examples of the use of the adjective and adverb were classified according to Leonid O. Černeiko’s proposed classification of the world into concrete and abstract things, that is, into those perceived by the sensory organs (sight, hearing, touch, smell) and those whose perception takes place only in human consciousness, that is, whose existence is simply believed in. According to this scholar, his classification is universal and encompasses absolutely all objects of inanimate and animate nature (for more detail, see Černeiko 1997). Classification revealed that the variety of objects called motherly and associated with the category of motherliness is limited; therefore, L. O. Černeiko’s classification was simplified and adapted to the category in question. L. O. Černeiko distinguishes material objects (there are no examples of such objects among the sentences collected for this study) and immaterial objects. In this study, immaterial objects are givens and the results of activities; these are the focus. ³ What is meant is an approach to language closer to synchronic linguistics. ⁴ Even in that case, it is impossible to do without a connection with extralinguistic reality, because syntagmatic relations between words are possible because relations exist in extralinguistic reality between the things or objects named by those words. 7 RESEARCH Analysis of the association field of the word mama Paradigmatic associations of the word mama reveal its place among other terms for kinship relations. Together with father 67 (28; 39)⁵ (that is, by far the most frequent association) or father 12 (2; 10)⁶, daddy 1 (0; 1), mama forms the basis of the traditionally perceived family 16 (6; 10), and there are parents 3 (1; 2). Some respondents reacted to the stimulus with the same word (mama 10 (8; 2), the word mother 6 (1; 5), or diminutive and endearing forms mommy 2 (0; 2), little mama 1 (0; 1), conveying an even warmer relationship with mama. The responses child 3 (2; 1), son 1 (0; 1) confirm the assumption that mama is generally considered a woman who has and raises a child. Since the research presented in the article is oriented towards describing the content of the concept, all other associations will be discussed with the point of reference being not the characteristics of words as units of language, but the focus will be on the information encoded in them. DESCRIPTIONS OF MAMA AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH HER In the association field of the word mama, less attention is paid to her appearance and more to her behaviour and relationship with people and the world. Only a few external characteristics are mentioned. Mama is small 1 (0; 1) and blonde 1 (1; 0), with a braid 1 (1; 0), and wears glasses 1 (0; 1). Apparently, in our consciousness, fair-haired people are more strongly associated with positive evaluation—according to the association experiment, the same applies to the daughter (for more about the associations of the word daughter, see Papaurėlytė-Klovienė 2024: 9–32). These reactions record objectively perceived features. The subjective appearance-related reaction is the word beautiful 1 (0; 1). Equally subjective are the descriptions of a person’s character: gentle 4 (3; 1), sincere 1 (1; 0), naive 1 (0; 1), angry 1 (0; 1). What is beautiful or sincere to one person may seem the opposite to another; therefore, it cannot be generalised that all mothers are gentle, sincere, naive, or angry. It should be mentioned that almost all associations record a positive evaluation; a person described in this way poses no danger or at least no discomfort to those interacting with them. The word angry may be an exception. Descriptions of the typical mama’s character are inseparable from the description of the relationship with her; they extend and supplement it. All reactions revealing the subject’s relationship with mama describe the aforementioned positive evaluation and positive emotions towards her. The nature of the emotions and the varying closeness of the relationship are shown by the different words provided by respondents: respect 4 (0; 4) – authority 2 (2; 0) – warm feelings 1 (0; 1) – most important 1 (0; 1) – love 60 (31; 29), I love 20 (7; 13), to love 1 (0; 1), we love 1 (0; 1), loved 1 (1; 0), loved person 2 (1; 1), and so on. Some respondents reacted with comparative and superlative adjectives: dearest 5 (2; 3), best 4 (2; 2); most beloved 3 (2; 1), closest 2 (2; 0), dearest person 1 (1; 0), best person 1 (1; ⁵ Here and below, the number before the parentheses reveals how many people in total provided this response; the first number in parentheses indicates how many of them were women, and the second how many were men. ⁶ The lower number of reactions tėvas ‘father’ was most likely determined by the same emotional relationship (cf. tėtis ‘dad’ and tėvas ‘father’) that was mentioned when discussing the semantic charge of the words mama ‘mom’ and motina ‘mother’. 8 0), mylimiausias ‘the dearest’ person 1 (1; 0), pati geriausia ‘the very best’ 1 (0; 1)7. Such reactions also mark the borderline intensity of feelings and can be interpreted as a precondition for a mutually positive relationship. The emotional relationship is also described by using possibilities for transferring a name. The basis for transferring the name is close to synesthetic metaphors: šiluma ‘warmth’ 29 (16; 13), saulė ‘sun’ 1 (1; 0), auksas ‘gold’ 1 (0; 1), brangenybė ‘precious stone’ 1 (1; 0), šilta ‘warm’ 2 (1; 1), turtas ‘wealth’ 1 (1; 0). Two directions prevail—light and warmth (in our climatic zone, these are regarded as desirable conditions creating safety and comfort); material values are mentioned—precious stones, wealth, and gold. Such modes of expression repeat the positive evaluation of the mother recorded through other descriptions and define the nature of the relationship. Mamos veiklos ‘The Mother’s Activities’ The names of activities characteristic of a mother recorded in the association field of the word mama ‘mom’ can conditionally be divided into those describing active and inactive activities. Active activities are understood as those that have not only a clear object but also a result perceived through the senses—and sometimes a material result. These include the mother’s work, duties, or obligations in the household. A mother is a woman who gives birth to children. This is revealed by the response provided by both women and men: gimdytoja ‘woman who gives birth’ 10 (2; 8). The language worldview records that the mother is responsible for ensuring that the home is tidy (tvarka ‘order’ 2 (0; 2)) and that there is food to eat (maistas ‘food’ 2 (1; 1), valgyti ‘to eat’ 2 (0; 2), vakarienė ‘dinner’ 1 (0; 1)). Language users see the mother as working, but only two specific occupational names are mentioned: dirba ‘works’ 1 (0; 1), auklėtoja ‘educator’ 1 (1; 0); mokytoja ‘teacher’ 1 (0; 1). It is natural that respondents mention occupations traditionally associated with women. The mother is perceived as the person who is closest to children every day from the moment of their birth, and especially when children (and probably not only they) need help: priežiūra ‘care’ 1 (0; 1), sauskelnes ‘diapers’ 1 (0; 1), vaistai ‘medicine’ 1 (0; 1). The duty and/or simple choice to remain close to children correlates with the abundance of so-called inactive activities. The designation neaktyvi veikla ‘inactive activity’ is partly contradictory, so it should be clarified that most such actions are difficult to imagine as taking place here and now, with a specific result perceived through the senses. Such actions are continuous, have no definite beginning or end, are perceived more emotionally as an expression of a relationship between people, and their result is either felt or not. First and foremost, a mother is a person who is not indifferent to the child; respondents name this relationship in various ways: rūpestis ‘care’ 14 (9; 5), rūpestinga ‘caring’ 9 (4; 5), rūpinasi ‘takes care’ 3 (0; 3). The descriptions are connected by the motif of concern, care, attachment, and help: paguoda ‘consolation’ 2 (1; 1), globėja ‘female guardian’ 1 (0; 1), myli ‘loves’ 1 (0; 1), prieglobstis ‘shelter’ 1 (0; 1), saugotoja ‘female protector’ 1 (1; 0). It should be noted that the results of the free association experiment coincide with aspects of the image of the contemporary woman described in the article by Slotvinska and Rutkovska. The scholars summarize the opinions of students who responded to the questionnaire question about the real mother: the mother is the one who raises, brings up, cares, and loves; that is, the social and 7 K. Rutkovska, who described the perception of motherhood, also mentions the abundance of superlatives associated with this topic (Smetonienė et al. 2021: 146). 9 psychosocial aspects are important. The biological aspect (giving birth to children) is also mentioned, but it is not dominant (Slotvinska, Rutkovska 2020: 329–330). Quite often, among the associations of a word there are also precedent texts (see Papaurelytė-Klovienė 2004: 136–138; 2024: 22)—texts important and recognizable to a particular culture that bring additional meanings and semantic charge into other texts. Each cultural community has its own corpus of precedent texts: when speaking or writing, people can invoke excerpts from songs, works of poetry and prose, feature or animated films, advertisements, etc. known to everyone. A precedent text performs its function only when it is recognizable, because only then does the addressee understand the scope of the entire message sent to them⁸. Naturally, among the associations of words important to language users (i.e., words naming important realities of nonlinguistic reality) there are precedent texts. Among the nearly 600 associations of the word mama ‘mom’, no allusions to precedent texts were recorded. It can be summarized that the results of analyzing the association field of the word mama ‘mom’ most comprehensively reveal the relationship with the mother recorded in language users’ consciousness, specify what kind of person is regarded as a mother, and identify which behavioral patterns are attributed to her. Analysis of the Category of Motherhood The description of the category of motherhood, based on an analysis of all forms of the adjective motiniškas, –a ‘motherly’ and examples of the adverb motiniškai ‘in a motherly way’ in use, supplemented and specified the results of the analysis of the association field of the word mama ‘mom’ and revealed more fully part of the concept’s content. Based on the classification of L. O. Černeiko already discussed, examples of the adjective and adverb in use were divided into two groups—Duotybės ‘Given Properties’ and Veiklos rezultatus ‘Results of Activities’. Duotybės ‘Given Properties’ The immaterial objects closest to a person are moods, emotions, and emotional states—in other words, phenomena of inner life. Emotions, feelings, and moods cannot be perceived through the sense organs. Language categorizes the inner world, distinguishes emotions from one another, and defines their essence, similarities, and differences. For example, we use the words ilgesys ‘longing’ and liūdesys ‘sadness’ because we understand and feel that these words name similar but not identical phenomena of inner life. The sphere of feelings is the fragment of reality most dependent on each person’s experience—what one person calls sadness, another may describe as dejection, and a third as grief. Language generalizes and specifies different experiences and names the corresponding states (Bamberg 1997: 212). Emotions can be described precisely (baimė, pyktis, džiaugsmas, liūdesys ‘fear, anger, joy, sadness’) and figuratively, by using metaphors, metonymies, etc. One of the figurative descriptions that also specifies the situation is provided by various forms of the word motiniškas, –a ‘motherly’ and the adverb motiniškai ‘in a motherly way’. ⁸ For example, to a language user who has never read Kristijonas Donelaitis’s poem “Metai,” the statement that “the joys of spring began” would signify only a change of season, but would not be associated with the work and concerns of a rural person, or with the emotions described in the poem. 10 Based on examples of language use, feelings and moods can be motherly. By default—that is, based on the experience of both speaker and listener—it is understood what these phenomena of inner life are like, and also that they are positively evaluated and desirable: <...> not at all in a motherly way disposed; Even a motherly feeling here takes on the form of roughness and bluntness. In the examples provided, an opposition is employed—the discussion concerns abstract phenomena that cannot be called motherly and therefore good; consequently, they are unpleasant and undesirable. By default, it is also understood what behavior is called motherly: Being old, you can behave in a fatherly or motherly way. The emotional state mentioned by far most often is love. Motherly love is special; it is described as magnanimous and expressive: Magnanimous motherly love; Can her motherly love not be expressive enough?; Indifferent affairs, appealing to the feeling of fatherly–motherly love. This emotional state motivates corresponding actions—to care for and protect: Her life is an example of motherly love; Let me feel caring motherly love; <...> patients whom the employee protects with motherly love. Motherly love is mentioned in situations involving protection and care—this description is chosen to indicate how consistently and conscientiously the action is performed. In the language worldview, a mother’s love is understood as having various forms of manifestation: it is shared (<...> she is a messenger of the gods, a distributor of motherly love and happiness); poured or drunk, that is, it has the aggregate state of a liquid (<...> pour out all the tenderness of her motherly love; <...> thirsty for motherly love). Motherly love is oriented toward the environment, whereas joy is more oriented toward the mother herself. In the examples, the plural of this word is used: I calmed him and did not mention my motherly joys; <...> the bright Lithuanian families shared their motherly joys and concerns; God, according to Brigita, granted her motherly joys. In the language worldview, there is an attempt to categorize the sphere of emotions more fully; therefore, when discussing emotions and feelings, metonymy is used—that is, the presence and intensity of emotions are described more precisely by defining the location where emotions are present. According to the logic of the language worldview, this is the heart: Maria sympathizes with him all the more with her motherly heart; It brings much joy to my motherly heart; <...> applauds softly, as far as her motherly heart allowed; Then Aniceta’s motherly heart could not endure seeing the crying children. In many language worldviews, the heart (like the soul) is regarded as the location of phenomena of inner life. It is generally said that the heart is the location of feelings and desires associated with them. Those feelings that are believed to be in the heart depend less on external circumstances than those associated with the soul (Uryson 1995: 4–6). It can be concluded from the examples that the motherly heart is an active agent, although its activity has no specific result. Possible behavioral patterns depend on the heart. Besides the heart, the mother’s actions are guided by intuition and instincts—but not reason: The next day she tore up the letter. Perhaps a motherly instinct prevailed; Motherly intuition understood immediately; <...> this happens very rarely, a motherly instinct prevails; Did motherly instincts awaken? Intuition is usually indicated as characteristic of mothers themselves; cf., for example, motherly love, which may also be characteristic of someone who is not a mother. Other phenomena of inner life associated with mothers are distinguished by the same dominant feature: they are oriented toward the effort to help, console, and provide security. It is difficult to establish the beginning or end of some actions; there is no active activity here, but rather a relationship itself is conveyed: <...> sympathizes with her daughter in a humane and motherly way; <...> the staff look on with motherly compassion; She smiled and sighed, and her face showed such motherly attentiveness; She is gentle and motherly, not angry or mocking. That experiences are motherly is noticed not only by observing and evaluating them from the outside but also by reflecting on one’s own actions: I feel motherly pity even for myself; I look at you with motherly tenderness; <...> I want each of you to feel my motherly closeness. It is only very conditionally possible to call the emotion felt by the person at whom one looks in this way the result of an action. This describes situations that generally connect two agents: the one transmitting the emotional relationship and the one receiving that relationship. Results of Activities The somewhat more active and visible actions are also oriented toward the emotional aspect—creating security and emotion—and therefore they too have no obvious result: <...> we said goodbye to Žiniuonė, who protected us in a motherly way; Some women will care for you with motherly protection; It was she who spoiled Gerhard and enveloped him in purely motherly protection; <...> sees her motherly help and participation in solving many complex tasks; Young animals, like children, need motherly care; <...> to a mother who lacked the conditions or ability to care for me in a motherly and attentive way. An even more specific protective relationship of the mother is conveyed through synesthetic metaphors: With motherly warmth and sensitivity, she can sing a lullaby; <...> you still needed motherly warmth so much; <...> in childhood he lacked motherly warmth; <...> her face flooded everyone she met with motherly warmth⁹. The language records that the same abstract phenomenon—motherly warmth—is conveyed in two ways: by singing (that is, through linguistic means) and simply by communicating without words (through facial expression). Actions described as motherly are also performed by people who have no kinship relationship with the object of the action: Brigita considered it her duty to take motherly care of the material situation of a servant working at the estate; <...> his rather stern but actually motherly caring deputy <...>; <...> a teacher and mother of three, therefore, according to the principal, looking at the pupil in a motherly way; <...> there are teachers who interact with children in a motherly way and have a close relationship with each child; Women willing to serve as motherly housekeepers in the first eight houses are being sought; <...> motherly concern for the professional training of young educators. The situations described most often concern duties and professions associated with care and education, for example, those of a teacher, educator, or lecturer. Usually, the description is applied to women. It can be assumed that when care and protection are discussed, specific actions and ⁹ The language of the examples has not been corrected. 12 more concrete results are intended, but very precise descriptions have not been recorded in examples of language use, e.g.: *baked pancakes in a motherly way; *washed the face in a motherly way¹⁰. The texts mention that protection, generally evaluated positively, becomes undesirable when it exceeds certain limits: <...> just escaped from excessive motherly protection at home. Examples of language use record that information about an emotional relationship is also conveyed through other means of communication. One of them is language. It should be noted that, according to the logic of the language worldview, the informative element is simply the manner of speaking—that is, tone, timbre, and intonation, what exists even before the meaning of the word and the content of the utterance—because an emotional relationship can be conveyed in this way and possible behavioral patterns implied; cf.: Amalija’s word rings out with a motherly tone of voice; Her encouragement sounded very motherly; Vaisieta heard the forewoman’s voice, motherly and caring; <...> she continued speaking in a joyful motherly voice; He answered in such a protective, almost motherly tone; She chirped in a kind-hearted, almost motherly way; <...> Danguolė explained calmly and motherly; Vaiginienė takes the child’s head in her hands and begins to calm him in a motherly way; <...> a warm, motherly, sincere “THANK YOU.” Very often, in texts, various forms of the adjective motiniškas, -a and the adverb motiniškai are further specified; therefore, it is not only by default that motherly is understood as kind-hearted, protective, sincere, calm, and caring. A motherly manner of speaking can be imitated; in that case, the description of the situation loses most of its positive emotional characterization: <...> she, putting on a motherly voice, offered <...>. If the addressee of the utterance recognizes that the motherly voice is false, then characteristics exist (possibly both linguistic and mimetic) that make it possible to distinguish the quality of the speech. Examples of language use differentiate various speech acts: in a motherly way one can greet, ask, request, explain, say, cf.: <...> having met him, she greets him, nods her head solidly, motherly, and with dignity; She asks me motherly; That brief little word also contained a motherly request—stay alive, boy; I do not fuss, I simply explain motherly; “You look great,” she said motherly. The presence of a subordinate relationship can be established in the situations described, but it is not expressed very clearly—there is no discussion of motherly orders or instructions: She did not address Vytukas or urge him in a motherly way to go to bed; <...> perhaps it is a motherly warning to the child; <...> and reproached him motherly; <...> the shout and motherly reprimand earned a fist in the back. The mother warns or reprimands, but more often in such situations she remains an observer. Body language characteristic of mothers is informative. The language worldview records that an overall image—an entire facial expression—can be motherly: <...> asks with a concerned motherly face; A stern fatherly facial expression is replaced by a pleasant motherly one; <...> motherly concern could be seen in her flushed face. The close relationship between mother and child, or a similar relationship between people not connected by kinship, is expressed through the eyes and smile, cf. Merope looked at her in a motherly way; Your motherly gaze accompanies me on my path to the priesthood; Her eyes may be motherly; <...> she smiled motherly; A warm motherly smile was an unextinguished little flame at the corners of her lips. ¹⁰ Exceptions could be the examples Amalija covers the child with a warm, cotton blanket in a motherly way; <...> to arrange the appropriate words, then fold them nicely, almost motherly, and put them into an envelope. 13 Mimicry is likewise associated only with positive emotions; there are no examples discussing motherly concern or the like. A motherly emotion can be conveyed through various movements of the hands. Gestures are not oriented toward aggression; openness and space are foregrounded: <...> fall asleep after being held close in a motherly way; <...> motherly outstretched hands; Taida stretched her motherly hands toward him. Gestures described as motherly express protectiveness—an orientation toward closeness, the desire to protect, tenderness, and affection: She would pat him on the shoulder motherly; <...> I stroked his shoulders motherly; <...> hugged him motherly <...> by the shoulder; <...> gives a motherly massage; <...> motherly stroked every cell covered with spruce-needle spines; <...> never having experienced motherly caresses. The symbolism of hands may possibly be reflected in the texts: “[T]ouching with the hand is an expression of direct magic; placing a hand [on someone] is consecration and the surrender of one’s power to the person being consecrated” (Biedermann 2002: 346–347). The touching of hair is mentioned in the texts: <...> almost motherly tousled the young man’s hair; <...> almost motherly and gently brushed over the hair. In symbolism, hair is also associated with emotions: “<...> it is known that during magical rites spells are often performed with hair; for example, the hair of the person whom one wishes to inspire with love is tied into knots” (Biedermann 2002: 334–335). Thus, according to the logic of the language worldview, an emotion is conveyed by touching the hair. After summarizing and comparing the results of the analyses based on different linguistic material, associated with varying evaluations and different spheres of use, it can be stated that they are similar, complement one another, and do not contradict one another¹¹. The conclusions of the analyses of both types of material have been systematized (see the table). Table. Representation of the content of the MOTINA concept based on the diversity of linguistic material ¹¹ The results of the research presented in the article also do not contradict the traits characteristic of a mother described by K. Rutkovska (Smetonienė et al. 2021: 132–147). 14 The analysis based on linguistic material associated with different words revealed that although the words mama ‘mom’ and motina ‘mother’ are oriented toward partly different spheres of use, similar information is encoded in responses to the stimulus mama ‘mom’ and in examples of the use of the adjectives and adverb. This once again confirms the claim that neither formal indicators (belonging to different parts of speech) nor orientation toward different styles are important for analyzing a concept. The principal criterion is the relationship with the concept whose content is being described and, through the concept, with a specific object of reality. CONCLUSIONS Summarizing the conclusions of the analysis of the association field of the word mama ‘mom’, it can be stated that a mother is considered to be a person who gives birth to a child, cares for, protects, loves, and safeguards the child. The most frequent associations of this word reveal that a mother is associated with love and goodness; that is, she is a loved and loving person who evokes almost exclusively positive associations in the respondent. The same conclusions can be drawn after summarizing the analysis of the contexts of the words motiniškas, –a ‘motherly’ and motiniškai ‘in a motherly way’. The texts reveal that behavior typically characteristic of a mother is determined by the predominance of the emotional basis and manifests itself as love, protection, care, and compassion. The analysis of all forms of the adjective motiniškas, –a ‘motherly’ and examples of the adverb motiniškai ‘in a motherly way’ in use provided the most information about the modality of emotions most often associated with the mother, based on the material of the language worldview. The language worldview records that the emotional basis dominates the mother’s behavior: not only are names of specific emotions mentioned, but their modes of expression are also described in greater detail. Based on the examples, mothers are most often loving, protective, and caring—behavior oriented toward this model is described as motherly. Human characteristics motivating behavior and the emotions associated with these characteristics can be expressed solely through tone of voice, timbre, volume, appropriate words, facial expressions, and gestures. The mother’s activity is determined by her emotional relationship with the object of the action; the actions are undefined with respect to time and result. When speaking, the mother scarcely expresses a subordinate relationship. Phenomena of inner life are most often described as motherly; they are not perceived through the sense organs, and one simply believes in the reality of such phenomena. Information collected from different sources about the concept in question records the same semantic dominants; there are no contradictions, and one type of material supplements the other. Thus, the most important factor is the relationship with the same concept, not the different nature of the linguistic material. Summarizing information about the content of the concept makes it possible to draw conclusions about the type of the MOTINA concept. One of the principal features of this concept is stativity. The results of both the analysis of associations of the word mama ‘mom’ and the analysis of examples of the use of all forms of the words motiniškas, –a ‘motherly’ and the adverb motiniškai ‘in a motherly way’ are not oriented toward situationality or a specific sequence of actions, that is, a scenario. It can be summarized that the information associated with the MOTINA concept on the basis of linguistic-material analysis is an implied or explicit expression of a relationship with the mother: language users directly express their attitude toward one of the parents or encode it in other words. The names of such and similar actions cannot be associated with a specific time of beginning or end; they 15 are also not bounded, but are typical of the nonlinguistic reality object with which the concept in question is associated. Thus, by its nature, the MOTINA concept is closest to typical schemas that link separate details into a whole and record what is typical. LITERATŪRA Babuškin Anatolij P. 1996: Tipy konceptov v leksiko-frazeologičeskoj semantike jazyka [Types of Concepts in Lexical and Phraseological Semantics of Language], Voronež: Izdatelstvo Voronežskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 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Nekalbininkų kalbotyra [Metalinguistics. Linguistics of Non-Linguists], Šiauliai: VšĮ Šiaulių universiteto leidykla. Motherhood in the Worldview of the Lithuanian Language (Based on the Associations of the Word mama (En. Mom) and the Compounds of the Words motiniškas, -a (En. Motherly), motiniškai (En. in a Motherly Way) SUMMARY The present study aims to describe part of the content of the concept of MOTHER related to the worldview of the Lithuanian language by means of the results of an association field analysis of the word mama (En. mom), the analysis of all forms of the adjectives motiniškas, -a (En. motherly), and the results of the analysis of the compounds of the adverb motiniškai (En. in a motherly way). Summarising the findings of the association field analysis, it was concluded that, according to the Lithuanian worldview material, a mother is a person who gives birth to a child, takes care of it, cares for it, loves it and protects it. The same conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the contexts of the words motiniškas, -a and motiniškai. The typical behaviour of a mother is determined by the primacy of the emotional element and manifests itself in the form of love, care, concern and compassion. The information that, according to the analysis of the linguistic material, is associated with the concept MOTHER in the Lithuanian language worldview is an implied or explicated expression of the relationship with the mother: the language users either directly describe their attitude towards one of the parents, or they encode it in other words. Concept MOTHER is the closest to the typical schemas, which link the individual details into a whole and capture what is typical. 18